Getting to the new normal in a  safe manner | Letters

The risk to teachers as they return to school in the autumn concernsPat Brockbank, whileSue Rogersfinds the mask-wearing debate disheartening. PlusPo-yu Sungon why supermarkets should enforce face coveringsMy daughter teaches in a senior school of about 600 pupils. In less than six weeks ’ time, all pupils are being forced to return to the classroom, with 30 children to each room. The only concession to the pandemic is that their desks will face towards the front, and that each year of approximately 120 pupils will be considered to be a bubble, even though all 600 children will be within the same building.In theirletter (22 July), three doctors state that “the risk of transmission of Covid-19 is directly related to viral overload and exposure time”. Thousands of teachers will be getting more and more anxious as the autumn term approaches. They will be stuck in closed, unventilated, centrally heated rooms with 30 coughing and sneezing children for six to seven hours every day, five days a week. The safety of office staff, shop workers, care home staff, bus drivers, taxi drivers, council workers and hospital medical staff is given careful consideration, but teachers are ignored.Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Coronavirus outbreak Infectious diseases Microbiology Medical research World news Supermarkets Retail industry Business Education Schools Source Type: news